Father Expected to Testify Against Son in Slaying Trial

By DAVID ROHDE

Published: November 23, 1998

Hostile testimony from his own father, bitter relatives of the dedicated police officer he is accused of killing, as well as a sea of blue uniforms are expected to greet Scott Schneiderman today at the opening of his trial on first-degree murder charges in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

Mr. Schneiderman, 34, a failed stockbroker, is accused of killing a young police officer after taking cocaine, donning a ski mask and botching an effort to rob the Chelsea penthouse of his estranged father in May 1997. A gun battle that left the officer, Anthony Sanchez, 31, mortally wounded is at the center of the trial.

For Mr. Schneiderman to be found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole, prosecutors must prove that he intended to kill Officer Sanchez when he fired six shots at him in the stairwell of his father's building at 138 West 17th Street. At the time of the killing, Mr. Schneiderman said that Officer Sanchez fired first.

Assistant District Attorney Kerry O'Connell and the defense lawyer, David Stern, will make their opening arguments to a jury of six men and six women before Justice Herbert Altman this morning.

The trial is expected to center around one man's descent from a life of privilege to a life as a pariah. Prosecutors say they expect Mr. Schneiderman's wealthy father, Raphael Schneiderman, 60, the co-owner of Zum Zum Fashions, with offices in SoHo and Chelsea, to testify against his son today as one of their first witnesses. At Officer Sanchez's wake, the elder Mr. Schneiderman promised the officer's widow, Elizabeth, that he would pay the college tuition of her son, John.

The shooting also had political ramifications. Gov. George E. Pataki, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Officer Sanchez's family implored the District Attorney of Manhattan, Robert M. Morgenthau, to pursue the death penalty against Mr. Schneiderman. But in what was considered one of the thorniest decisions Mr. Morgenthau had faced since the 1995 reinstatement of the death penalty, he chose not to do so.

Officer Sanchez, who lived in West Babylon on Long Island, had won 15 medals for excellence and meritorious service in 10 years, and he had a reputation for being intensely devoted to his family and respectful even to those he arrested. His shooting is the first case of a police officer being killed in Manhattan since reinstatement of the death penalty.

Mr. Morgenthau, who personally opposes the death penalty, has been careful to not rule out ever pursuing it. But so far he has declined to pursue it in all potential death penalty cases in Manhattan.

He has not discussed his reasoning in the Schneiderman case, but defense lawyers have said that prosecutors would probably have had a difficult time persuading a jury to vote for the death penalty. Mr. Schneiderman has no previous criminal record, and there is apparently little evidence that he set out to kill someone on May 19, 1997. Jurors could have considered these issues to be mitigating factors.

The slow descent that led to Mr. Schneiderman's encounter with Officer Sanchez began at least three years earlier, according to the police. Mr. Schneiderman and his brother, Jeff, were working for their father at Zum Zum in the early 1990's. Their parents had divorced in the mid-1970's, and the two brothers grew up with their mother, Ann, in Bay Terrace, Queens.

But in 1994 the elder Mr. Schneiderman fired Scott when he was suspected of stealing money from the company, the police have said. Scott Schneiderman, who denied stealing the money, grew estranged from his father. They last spoke six months before the slaying, at a birthday party for the son's daughter, who was 2 at the time, but there was no reconciliation, according to the police.

After leaving Zum Zum, Scott Schneiderman held a series of jobs as a stock broker, but he fared poorly, according to former colleagues. While his father lived in wealth in Manhattan, the son moved with his wife and daughter to a duplex in Bayside, Queens. He sank into debt and began using cocaine, according to the police.

Mr. Schneiderman may have set out to rob his father in the belief that a large amount of cash was in a safe in the apartment, the police said. They said he also may have feared that he would be disinherited if Raphael Schneiderman married Wendy Brown, his girlfriend, then 27.

According to the police, the suspect's downfall proved to be his incompetence as a thief and Ms. Brown, who managed to call 911 when he entered the apartment. As Officer Sanchez and three other officers of the 13th Precinct arrived, Mr. Schneiderman fled with a small amount of cash.

Three officers headed to the 10th floor penthouse, and Officer Sanchez waited a bit and later headed up the stairwell alone. He intercepted Scott Schneiderman between the 9th and 10th floors. Mr. Schneiderman fired six shots, and Officer Sanchez fired four shots.

Mr. Schneiderman was later found hiding in the building's basement with only minor wounds. But one of the shots had struck Officer Sanchez in the back of the neck. The officer hobbled down the stairs, bleeding. On the seventh floor, he dropped his radio. On the third floor, he collapsed. Several hours later, he was pronounced dead at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center.